Take Two
by NepgyaHeart
Summary: After Aya gets cast as the lead role in an upcoming musical, Chisato decides to help her with her lines. Many blunders later, Chisato adopts a bit of a mischievous air, and Aya ends up all flustered as they share a kiss meant to be fake. Though Aya quickly finds out that it was genuine. Then boldly, Aya came in hot and proclaimed, "I love you!"


"I love you more than the world can define. These words can't possibly begin to describe how much I wish to see you every day." Aya took Chisato's small hands in her sweaty ones and gulped, her heart pounding. "Please tell me you feel the same."

Chisato looked off to the side with a half-hearted smile and replied, "I can only tell you the truth. We're not compatible. You can keep chasing your pipe dreams, but I refuse to distract myself from the path that I've set in front of me."

Aya gasped and tried her best to keep her grip on Chisato's hands, which the latter kept trying to pull away. Chisato took a step back, and Aya followed, saying, "What makes you think my dream isn't to be with you?"

"Because that's not who you are." Chisato shook her head. "Please drop this subject. I don't want to lose our friendship over this. It wouldn't be fair to yourself, me, or the others."

"No, beyond a doubt, I loathe you. Can you really not out your faith in me?" Aya took a quiet, deep breath and sang, "If I say I want to run away…"

Chisato wore another crooked smile and opened and closed her mouth before sighing. Instead of responding, she said, "Aya-chan, you got the same line wrong again."

"What? Really?" Aya dropped Chisato's hands and widened her eyes as Chisato fetched a script set off to the side. "Again?"

"Yes, again. And this one is stranger than the last one you got hitched on." Chisato cracked open the booklet to a dog-eared page. "You keep saying loathe instead of love. Two polar opposites, quite actually. You do know that, right?"

"I thought I said love this time. Oh, Chisato-chan, what should I do?"

"And I'm afraid that you're coming off a little flat, which cannot do in this type of scene, or any at all, actually."

"Aw…"

"You've even wrote it down in your script." Chisato showed Aya the small notes the latter scribbled in the margins. "This shouldn't be too hard. Even if this play is a little overwrought." A sappy romance, in fact, written with diction that rivaled that of Kaoru. The person who thought it would be a good idea to cast an idol for this role needed to be fired.

"Aw, maybe I should have let you have this role…"

"Care to say that again, Aya-chan?" Chisato tilted her chin up and managed to look down on Aya. How could she not seize the role she was offered? "I don't believe you really mean that, do you?"

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant!" In Aya's defense, she didn't volunteer herself for this role. A producer sprung it on her out of the blue and she only agreed because she was put on the spot. "I just meant that you're so much better suited for this than me."

"So you say." Chisato handed a dispirited Aya a water bottle. "But I hope you realize how important this is for you."

"I do. I'm just not very good at it…"

"Then keep practicing. This is your first live performance without any cameras and editing, or us to have your back. Being cast in this musical as its lead is a huge step for you. Think of how mastering this role will help you with performing in front of crowds and emceeing." For Aya's sake, Chisato withheld her opinion that performing in plays was more stressful than most any concert Pastel*Palettes had before. "You already have the singing part down."

"Well, when you put it that way, I don't think I'm trying nearly hard enough!" Aya grinned ear to ear. "But this is really hard."

"Nobody said it wouldn't be." Handing the script back over, Chisato gave a small smile. "That's what I'm here for. Give it another try"

"Yes!"

And so they tried again. Right up until Aya said "loathe" again. The next take, she bit her tongue right after she said the correct word. The next one, she said "leave" instead.

"Hm, maybe you were right about not being a good fit for this role," Chisato teased. She also hoped to light a fire under Aya with this.

"No, not at all. Please let me try again!"

"That's what I like to hear, Aya-chan."

One more try and Aya froze upon forgetting her first line. Not bringing her down any further, Chisato didn't say anything about the lack of emotion in her delivery, nor the stiff movements.

"Well, why don't we take a break from this scene and try another one?" Chisato suggested.

"Sure…" Dejected, Aya passed over her script.

"Well, how about… this one?" Chisato showed off the page for the penultimate act.

"Okay…" Aya took back the script to refresh her memory. Upon remembering, she asked, "Are you sure? This is the kiss scene, right after the dramatic second confession." Wouldn't the other confession scene be better practice?

Aya hoped the blush on her face wasn't too evident. Just the though of being so close to Chisato sent her heart racing. She wasn't even sure if she would mess the fake kiss up and accidentally brush their lips together, though finding out how that would feel didn't sound bad at all in her book.

"It'll be fine. Or are you still doubting yourself?" The script traded hands again so that Chisato could read off it.

"Absolutely not. Let's start!"

Hiding a giggle, Chisato thought, _Leave it to Aya-chan to take things so seriously it makes it seem silly_. She chalked it up as part of her charm.

"Okay, and…" With a deep breath Aya steadied herself. "You were right. My dream didn't pan out. In fact, it turned into a nightmare."

_Such an absurd plot. Could it be any more predictable? Chasing dreams only to be crushed by reality? _Chisato mentally rolled her eyes. Writers needed to get more inspiration nowadays. Though, this musical did strike a chord with what happened to Pastel*Palettes just a short while ago.

Glancing at the script, Chisato said, "It'll only get harder from here on out." She read the action note, (_Hold hands_), and followed through. "But I'll keep offering you my guidance like I always have. I'll gladly keep offering you my hand. I just hope that one day, you can do the same for me."

The next action line was (_Lean into each other_), which both complied with. Aya sniffled, just as written, and said, "I will. Please just don't leave me behind again."

Chisato struggled to hide her smile with the next action. (_Pinch her chin gently_), it read. And so she followed through. Beneath her smooth fingertips, she felt Aya's soft and warm skin. "How could I?"

(_Kiss on the lips for ten seconds_). Why ten seconds, how the actors were supposed to time that, and a twinge of amusement swirled inside Chisato's head. Though, she did slightly grimace at the thought of Aya doing this with the other lead character.

So Chisato would just have to give Aya an experience of this scene she would never forget.

"Aya-chan," she said lowly before leaning on her toes and holding the girl's right hand with her free one after dropping the script on the floor.

"Chisato-chan?" Aya broke character to back away from the closing distance between them. She didn't want things to become too awkward.

Before she could escape it, Aya felt Chisato's lips press against hers. Stunned, she froze just as Chisato moved the hand pinching her chin to her cheek. As if the scene became reality, Chisato put everything she had in the gentle kiss and tempted Aya to do the same.

For a second, Aya relaxed her lips and let Chisato take a step closer, the gap between them practically nonexistent. The shorter girl got tired of standing on her toes and instead pulled Aya down to her.

Finally, they parted. Chisato wore a satisfied and playful smile as Aya stammered and blushed furiously. "I'm here for you." The line came out seamlessly.

"Chisato-chan, that wasn't in the script!" Aya exclaimed. Was it Chisato that really just did that? How surreal. "It was supposed to be a fake one!"

"Really?" Chisato said as if nothing happened. _That makes sense. How could they make her actually kiss someone on stage?_ Not missing a beat, she picked the script back up from the floor, looked over the page of the scene, and noticed Aya hadn't written any notes. "Then you should have annotated your script, Aya-chan."

"What?" Aya's voice reached an all-time high. She always tried her best to read her bandmate and stay on her good side, but this left her the most confused she'd ever been. Was that kiss just to help her get into her role better? Aya couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

"Here, I wrote it down for you." Chisato presented the page, now with _fake_ scrawled beside the action note. "Let's us try again, then, since you're so excited."

"I…" Aya stopped holding herself back. She might as well learn Chisato's true intentions the fast way, be it pure or romantic (though she prayed for the latter). With a serious nod, she hummed, "Yes. The scene from earlier."

"Okay, then." Still unfazed, Chisato tucked some hair behind her ear and resumed her position opposite Aya. "Let's begin."

Boldly, Aya came in hot and proclaimed, "I love you!"

Crossing her arms while silently laughing, Chisato said, "Aya-chan, you got the line wrong again. But I like your enthusiasm this time around."

"Oh, right. Then, maybe we should practice the kiss scene after all." Plan A didn't go too well. Time for Plan B, guns blazing.

"Are you sure?" She beamed another playful smile. "Not my character's confession?"

"Yes!" Flustered and antsy, Aya came closer, bent down, and gently kissed Chisato the instant she could.

Chisato hugged Aya and let the scene play out for as long as possible. Once they separated, she said, "That's not how the scene starts. But remember, it's a fake one on stage."

Chisato went in for another kiss.

Aya didn't get all her lines down that day.


End file.
